The Saddleback Naturalist
- 29 Jun 07, 02:34 PM
I'm very fortunate in my job as a radio producer in having a presenter colleague who enjoys riding as much as I do so we can bore each other with endless horse talk. Dylan Winter, who presents Shared Earth on 91热爆 Radio 4, as many of you may know, has done several long distance horseback rides in this country and the US - he rides Western style and I ride English. But while our riding style is different, Dylan and I agree wholeheartedly on one thing - being on a horse riding through the countryside is a great way to get up close to wildlife and really witness the beauty of the changing seasons in the landscape.
In the fields and on the bridleways near where I keep my horse I've been lucky enough to see and hear my first lapwings, spot seven herons standing like sentinels in a farmer's field, watch a sparrowhawk fly down the path ahead of me with another rather unfortunate bird in its mouth, get close to roe deer and muntjac without them bounding away and hear little owls calling. The spring flowers along the tracks are stunning, and in the distance a green woodpecker beats out a tune on a tree trunk. In the autumn the hedgerows drip with blackberries and sloes.
Old stables themselves are a great attraction for wildlife too - every year it's a joy to have our noisy swallows return and raise their broods - and all happening just 3 feet above my head as I muck out. Our first swallow chicks fledged on the exact same day that the Springwatch swallows left the nest. The place seems so quiet though when the swallows leave for the journey south and you know the summer is over. Horse hair makes great nest material and there's always a steady stream of birds flying down to pick up the discarded hair from grooming brushes. Foxes and rabbits are always around the yard and the schooling arena and seem none too bothered by the activity of animals and people. A female blackbird amazed me this summer by being so keen to get food for her young and herself she would fly down into the feedbowl of Eric, the biggest horse on the yard, and steal his feed from right under his nose.
So, all you riders out there, what wildlife have you seen from the back of your horse whilst out hacking? Any amazing encounters you couldn't have got unless you'd been on horseback? And where are the riding wildlife hotspots in this country?
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I have never learned to ride a horse, but reading your article makes me want to start! I had never thought that being on a horse might give you access to parts of wildlife that even when walking you wouldn't see.
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I too have swallows nesting above the light fittings in our stables, I guess not only because they can make a nest but also because its quite warm when the lights are on! They are gone now, but are always dipping in and out of the stables in the summer. We also have many foxes pass through our fields, as well as badgers. Often in the summer nights you might see a couple of bats fleeting about in the woods behind the stable block. My Willow also has the same problem of birds stealing his food whilst he's eating.
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